In one of the dreams, the Prophet (ﷺ) was taken to a valley and he was shown a punishment given to a person...
A man was lying and another man (an angel) stands with a HUGE Stone and hitting it Hard on the Head of the lying person.
Mark the words of Hadith, the Angel did not hit on his hand but on the head of the lying person. Thus, his Head was CRUSHED and the stone fell far off due to the impact of the force by which it was thrown.
The Prophet (ﷺ) was stunned to see this punishment and asked what was the reason for it. Meanwhile, the Angel rushed and brought back the stone. Till then the head of the person became as it was. The Angel hit it again strongly and the Head of the Man was crushed. It kept on happening repeatedly.
The Prophet (ﷺ) inquired from his companion (angel), the reason for such a punishment. He said that the man was none other but the Ummati of the Prophet (ﷺ) who slept lying his head on the pillow while the call for obligatory prayer was given.
The Prophet (ﷺ) was referring to the careless attitude towards Prayers. He added that the punishment would be given till the day of Judgment.
When Priority is given to Worldly Duties over the Command of Allah...
"I'll let my child sleep now. It's too early for him. He has to go to school, too"
"Your Dad has tough routine, doing night shifts. He'll make it up afterwards."
"I just can't get up for Fajr. Deep sleeper. All kinds of alarms have failed"
On the contrary...
"Get up! I need breakfast / press my clothes. I'm getting late for office"
"Wake up all of you! We have to reach 3 hours before the flight and it is already 4 am”
Many of us wake up early morning to reach school or office in time. We reach the airport before time even if the reporting time is at half past midnight. We drag our children out of their beds and put them on the study table during exams. But alas! most of us do not follow the same rules of punctuality when it comes to prayers and more specifically, Fajr prayers. Bringing up children in disobedience towards Allah.
What are your Dangers / Losses if you miss a FAJR Prayer?
Narrated `Abdullah:
It was mentioned before the Prophet (ﷺ) that there was a man who slept the night till morning (after sunrise).
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "He is a man in whose ears (or ear) Satan had urinated.”
Sahih al-Bukhari 3270
Narrated that Jundub ibn ‘Abd-Allaah said:
The Messenger of Allaah (ﷺ) said:
“Whoever prays Fajr is under the protection of Allaah, so do not fall short with regard to the rights of Allaah, for anyone who does that, Allaah will seize him and will throw him on his face into the Fire of Hell.”
Muslim 657
Narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (ﷺ) said:
“If they knew what there is (of reward) in ‘Isha’ and Fajr prayer, they would come to them even if they had to crawl.”
Al-Bukhaari (615) and Muslim (437)
Establish worship at the going down of the sun until the dark of night, and (the recital of) the Qur'an at dawn. Lo! (the recital of) the Qur'an at dawn is ever witnessed. (Surah Al Isra:78)
Most of us are heedless during Fajr, therefore Allah has specially mentioned in the Qur’an to observe this prayer punctually. He also adds an important virtue of offering Fajr prayers. When one recites the Qur’an in Fajr it is witnessed by the Angels.
The term in the verse is ‘mashood’ and the Prophet (ﷺ) explained, that Angels of mercy and blessings descend during this time. The angels do not come empty hand but they come with blessings and mercy for those who are present in the Fajr prayer. The worshipper returns blessed and with mercy of Allah.
Among the supplications of the Prophet (ﷺ), one was, “O Allah, put blessings in the Fajr of my Ummah”.
This is a supplication of the Prophet (ﷺ) and they were responded by Allah. But alas! Our people are always punctual in schools and offices but not in Masjid. We obey to our bosses but not to our Lord.
Muhammad bin Yusuf Surti was a professor in Aligarh Muslim University for some time and a religious scholar. Once he visited Nanded, a city close by Hyderabad. He visited a masjid Qamaruddin, where he received a warm welcome.
After leading the people in fajr prayers, he asked the people to close the doors of the masjid. He then took a stick and stood at the get of the Masjid not allowing any late comer to enter the Masjid saying,
“Go away, now that the blessed congregation is over after the end of the salah you have nothing to gain in masjid except that you can use its toilets, water and fan. All the blessings are distributed”.
The next day, the Masjid was full during Fajr congregation. People should realise that they are devaluing the blessings of Allah.
Your impurity is not an excuse from skipping Fajr...
Some freshly married youth ignore fajr because they had sexual intercourse with their spouse, previous night. It is better that they become thankful worshipper of Allah by waking up for fajr along with their spouse and take bath before offering Fajr.
A good spouse is a blessing from Allah and skipping Fajr due to sexual impurity is an ungrateful attitude towards Allah.
“If you are ungrateful, then my punishment is severe”, says Allah in Surah Ibrahim. Therefore, prayers should not be just be observed by one person alone in the family, rather the entire family should offer.
What are your causes for Missing Fajr prayers?
Lack of responsibility and emptiness of Taqwa are the main causes for skipping fajr prayers.
But even among those who offer the rest of the four prayers, if they miss the Fajr then it is due to remaining awake till late-nights and that causes laziness to wake up at Fajr.
The solution is simple and it comes from the Prophet (ﷺ) who suggested that one should not sleep before Isha (i.e. between Magrib and Isha) and one should not remain awake after Isha indulging in vain talks, chatting with friends on useless topics.